Prior to taking the field Friday night against the Mexico Bulldogs at the BHS Sports Complex, members of the Boonville Pirates football team along with the student body will have participated in a number of activities throughout the week for Homecoming.

Although the game between Boonville and Mexico will be the main event, Boonville Student Body President Katie Vest said Spirit Week will have actually started on Monday with Clowing Around Day and conclude Friday with Main Event Day.

With the theme for this year's Homecoming as the "Greatest Show On Turf", Vest said on Clowning Around Day the students will wear bright colors. "Basically the students will wear neon colors," Vest said. "We thought that would be easier than dressing around like clowns, plus we thought we would get more participation. I think a lot of students did it."

If they didn't participate on Monday, Vest said Ringling Brothers Day on Tuesday was a big turnout because students will like dressing up as their twin.

Switch Day on Wednesday is also popular with the student body. After Clowing Around Day on Monday and Ringling Brothers Day on Tuesday, Vest said Switch Day will have the boys dressing up like girls and the girls dressing up like boys.

"I think some people will go all out but it will probably be a lower participation," Dorman said. "But it's funny."

The fourth day of Spirit Week could possibly be the funniest with Fake An Injury Day. Vest said students will go all out, with some coming to school with crutches, slings and bruises.

"Last year was the first year we did it and the students really liked it," Vest said.

A Homecoming assembly will have also taken place on Thursday to announce all of the athletes in fall sports along with the queen candidates and their escorts.

The Boonville Cheerleaders will sponsor the bonfire on Thursday just east of the BTEC starting at 8 p.m.

On the final day of Spirit Week, which is also the busiest, Vest said Main Event Day will consist of students dressing in blue and white to show their spirit. "I saw a kid who had a helmet that was white and he had blue things coming out of it," Vest said.

The Homecoming parade, which will also be held on Friday, will begin at 2 p.m. Sawyer Quinlan, a senior at Boonville High School, will be the Grand Marshal for this year's parade.

Page 2 of 3 - Vest said the parade will assemble on High Street in front of the BDN and then turn right onto Main Street, where they will continue onto Locust Street.

Vest said there are 58 floats entered in the parade and will include athletes in the fall, the queens and their escorts, class floats, LSE, Ss. Peter & Paul, businesses, the Boonville Pirates Silver Marching Band, horses and army vehicles.

At the HC game later that night at the BHS Sports Complex, the Boonville Pirates football team will try to make it two in a row against the Bulldogs. The two teams hooked up last year on Homecoming, with the Pirates winning 18-12 in overtime. Boonville went on to finish the season at 10-2 while the Bulldogs closed out the season at 5-5 overall. The Pirates also captured the conference championship in only its fourth season in the NCMC by finishing 6-0.

Of course the 2012 season has been less than kind to both the Pirates and Bulldogs. Although Boonville dropped its first-three games, losing to California 18-7, Higginsville 20-0 and Hannibal 41-12, they found success in Week 4 against the Knob Noster Panthers by a score of 35-13. As for the Mexico Bulldogs, they will enter the game at 0-4 with losses to St. Joseph Lafayette 52-16, California 40-0, Marshall 35-15 and Hannibal 41-14.

The Pirates have also won their last-four HC games, including last year's thrilling finish over the Bulldogs. In 2010, Boonville beat the Kirksville Tigers in a blowout by a score of 41-14. Meanwhile, in 2009, the Pirates beat these same Mexico Bulldogs 27-6. As for 2008, which was Boonville's first season in the conference, they won 33-13 over the Marshall Owls.

Boonville's last loss on Homecoming came in 2007 against the Knob Noster Panthers by a score of 20-7.

Hopefully with a large crowd on hand to watch the Pirates whip up on the Bulldogs, they may want to stick around for halftime to watch the award-winning Boonville Pirates Silver Marching Band and Boonville Dance Team.

Meanwhile, at approximately 7:45 p.m., Anna Kay, the 2011 Homecoming Queen, will crown this year's queen at mid-field.

Of course there will be plenty to celebrate as the Pirates look to notch their second straight win of the 2012 season. The celebration will continue on Saturday with the HC Dance at the BHS commons from 8:30-11:30 p.m.

Vest said the queens and escorts will be announced during the dance.

As for the theme for this year's HC, Vest said the "Greatest Show On Turf" actually started with the St. Louis Rams. "Our whole theme centered around the circus," Vest said. "We saw that the Rams did it and thought it would be a cool idea. This is also the first year that we had each class decorate their hallways."

Page 3 of 3 - After the game against the Mexico Bulldogs, the Pirates will hit the road for another NCMC matchup on Friday, Sept 28 against the Kirksville Tigers. Then, after a home game against Fulton on Friday, Oct 5, Boonville will travel to Moberly on Friday, Oct 12th before concluding the regular season at home on Friday, Oct. 19 against the Marshall Owls.

The first round of the district playoffs will begin on Thursday, Oct 25. As of last Friday's game, the Pirates are the No. 4 seed behind California, Centralia and Chillicothe. The Pintos (4-0) are currently in first place with 49.17 points, followed by Centralia (4-0) at 46.25, Chillicothe (1-3) at 28.5, Boonville (1-3) at 28.17, Macon (2-2) at 27.25, Southern Boone (1-3) at 25.25, Fulton (0-4) at 13.92 and MMA (0-4) at 10.33.

The top-four seeds in the district will host the first round of the playoffs.